Carpenters or anyone please help

mumbulog

Member
Can I stain over stain?
I stained my DIY bookshelf aquarium stand a honey color and it didn't cover the wood filler. Can I stain over this with a darker stain and if so, how?
Thankyou
Gordon
 

scsinet

Active Member
It depends on what you stained it with.
If you used straight up stain, but have not yet applied a protective coat, such as polyurethane, shellac, or varnish, then you can stain straight over it.
If you used a wood finish like Minwax or any other product that is a stain and a protective coat in one, or if you've already applied shellac, varnish, or poly, then you need to either sand the surface down to the wood, or use a chemical stripper to take the finish off. In either case, don't expect the stain to look perfect when done.
The other thing you can do if you applied a minwax product is to try going over it with additional coats to darken it up.
 

scsinet

Active Member
It will to some extent. How much I'm not sure.
If I were you, I'd set the show piece aside and grab a scrap chunk and experiment with that to see what kind of results you can get.
 

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Im in the process of going through the exact same thing with the exact same color and the exact same name brand.Stainable wood filler "MY EYE!".Anyway second coat helps a lot and the third and fourth will get me to where i think ill be happy with it.Lesson learned here"Test on scrap first with wood filler and all"
Just try and think of any imperfections as character.

And also ,try and keep this in mind.You built it,you stained it,so your going to notice imperfections the 99% of people wont.
 

newtoit

Member
in the future if you do this a trick I learned was to turn a piece of the woor into fine sawdust then mix with elmers carpenters glue and use that for a filler
 

edcook

New Member
This is a little late to help you guys, but if you mix in some sawdust from the piece of wood into the filler, the color comes out closer and it's much easier to stain. It also depends on the filler you use, the pre-mixed stuff being more difficult to match.
 

mumbulog

Member
Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated. At the store they said that the filler is great and had be believing but they were full of it. I agree on the character bit, but on this cabinet I took my time and really came out with a nice product, so this kinda of broke my heart with the staining.
Thanks again!!
 

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by mumbulog
http:///forum/post/2617765
Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated. At the store they said that the filler is great and had be believing but they were full of it. I agree on the character bit, but on this cabinet I took my time and really came out with a nice product, so this kinda of broke my heart with the staining.
Thanks again!!
If it makes you feel any better I'm on the 3rd coat and the filler is really much less noticeable.
 

veni vidi vici

Active Member
I just thought of something else ,if you really decide you dont like the way it looks,try this.Get a filler that matches and drill or use a scratch awl to remove old and refill with new.
 

mumbulog

Member
yes that does make me feel better as I have only applied one coat. I will add more coats and hope it does the job.
 
The filler you're talking about is typical and basically unresponcive to staining after the fact. What you need to do is tint the filler as you mix it with the stain. Test this befre applying because the color will change when it's dried.
Now being you've already filled and stained, your best bet is to turn the spot into a knot-hole or simply scraping some filler out and retrying the application.
For a knot-hole just do a google search for designs that you can etch into the filler. Some good DIY sites will even guide you through the step by step process for coloring the etches as to bring out a natural knot look.
 
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